


Together

by Little_Red_Hoodie



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Hale Family Feels, M/M, Original Character(s), The Hale Family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-18
Updated: 2018-10-18
Packaged: 2019-01-23 05:09:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12499464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Little_Red_Hoodie/pseuds/Little_Red_Hoodie
Summary: Derek and his sisters; they'd lost everything. Their home, their family, their pack. Burned down in a horrible event inspired by the pure yet unjustified hatred of hunters. For years Derek blamed himself for not being able to save his family and now that Laura was gone too he couldn't help but sink further in to the dark hole that he's been digging for the past 6 years.But he refused to give up. He still had his younger sister and he's sworn he'll protect her with everything he has as they make their way back to the town that took everything from them. Maybe they could make it, they could finally find peace again, even in Beacon Hills.At first, they had gotten daily updates via text. Laura informing them about what she'd found upon arriving in Beacon Hills. She said that she'd still check out the preserve, sniff around, see if she can catch a scent, tracks, anything. That was 5 days ago, since then there's been nothing but radio silence. They started to get worried when one night as they'd both felt it. A tug in their chests, as if an invisible string connected to the centre of their ribcage had been pulled taught and severed, a feeling of loss taking place instead.





	1. Going Back

**Author's Note:**

> This is born out of an idea i had one night and decided to explore further. I do not own any characters from Teen Wolf, this work is created purely out of personal entertainment.  
> Feel free to leave your opinions as this is my first time ever doing this. 
> 
> Enjoy

"Derek," Lea said looking at her brother from the passenger seat. "You haven't said anything since we left Sacramento. You know we need to talk about this."  
Lea watched his knuckles turn white as he tightened his grip on the steering wheel. "There's nothing to talk about."

Lea scoffed," Yes. There is and you know it. Heck, you felt it. And I know you did because if I felt it, then you definitely did. There's no denying it." Lea sighted, shifting her gaze out the window, following the quickly passing trees with her eyes. With a tired voice she added, "I know you don't want it to be true and trust me, I don't either. But we need to prepare ourselves for the possibility that she's dead."

  
She, Derek thought. Laura. Their older sister, who had gone back to the town they grew up in after getting a cut out from a newspaper article showing a dead deer, spiral carved into its skin, in the mail. Upon realising that the deer was found in the preserve, the property their childhood home was built on, she couldn't help but take it as a sign. As a sign that maybe someone of their family had survived, that maybe they wanted to contact them. After all, why else would there be a deer with the sign of vendetta carved onto its side? It has to be a Hale, she told her siblings back in their apartment in New York, someone wanting revenge for their family's horrible deaths, finally coming back after all these years. She had to check it out, just to be sure. And with that, she packed up a bag, rented out a car and drove all the way to the small town in California, Beacon Hills. The town, where six years ago, they lost everything. The town where their family was unrightfully and horribly taken from them at a too young age, because of sheer hatred and injustice.

  
At first, they had gotten daily updates via text. Laura informing them about what she'd found upon arriving in Beacon Hills. That she'd tracked down and spoken to the journalist that had published the article and asked him how he found out about it. He had said that an unassuming jogger had seen it as she was taking her morning run. After that, Laura had tracked the jogger down who unfortunately couldn't tell her more than she had already told the police. She said that she'd still check out the preserve, sniff around, see if she can catch a scent, tracks, anything. She wouldn't give up. That was 5 days ago, since then there's been nothing but radio silence. Calls and text messages left unanswered, voice mail filled up with worried messages left by both Derek and Lea. They started to get worried, restless and then, one night as they were both in the living room, they'd both felt it. A tug in their chests, as if an invisible string connected to the centre of their ribcage had been pulled taught and severed. Both their eyes had flashed instinctively as they gasped out in pain, overwhelmed by the sudden feeling of loss.

They both knew that feeling, they'd felt it before, the night as most of their family burned alive, trapped in their own house. Back then it was that much more severe, more painful as 12 connections had been cut off one by one before they could find out why or how to stop it. By the time they got to their home, there was nothing left but the shell of a mansion once impressively beautiful, filled with life, built with love, burned to ashes. Laura, being the eldest and thus the next in chain of command, she'd felt it the worst, her senses amplified by the newly acquired power of an alpha only making it more painful to bear. And to make it even worse, it meant their mom had died as well. It was never supposed to happen like this, Laura had cried holding her two siblings to her chest. They were all they had left.

  
No, it really never was supposed to happen that way and neither was this. Derek didn't want to believe it, refused to believe it. It must have been a mistake, some kind of supernatural malfunction or something because if Laura had died, then he should have become the alpha, right? And he didn't. He'd checked time and time again, shining his eyes in the bathroom mirror to confirm they were still the icy blue he'd hated so much. That must mean she's not dead, she can't be, otherwise his eyes wouldn't be blue but red. That's what Derek had told himself, had told Lea when she had looked at him with so much fear in her eyes he wanted to hug her and tell her it's okay. That Laura was okay, that she couldn't be dead because his eyes weren't red yet.

Unless, Derek's oh so self-loathing mind had supplied, unless she was killed by another werewolf which meant the alpha power would go to that werewolf and not to Laura's next of kin. But why would another werewolf do that? Who'd want to kill his sister? For what reason? Could it have been a Hale? Had Laura been right? All these questions swirled around his head as Derek focused back on the road ahead of him. What would they find when they got to Beacon Hills, after all these years?

Lea looked back at her brother, saw the way his whole body was so tense, so rigid. The look on his face was one she knew well. It's the one he wore when he was trying not to show any emotion on his face. Lips nothing but a thin pressed line on his face, eyebrows scrunched up producing worry lines on his forehead, eyes dark. To an outsider it would merely look as if he was angry, scowling.

But Lea knew better. She knew it's the expression of someone who has experienced severe loss, someone who blamed himself for what happened to his family, for not being able to save them, same as he is blaming himself for this. For not keeping his big sister safe when it was what they had all sworn to each other that fateful night six years ago as they were huddled together under a blanket the Sheriff had thankfully provided after having taken them to the station. Derek wore the expression of someone who felt he's failed his family, back then by letting himself be persuaded by an older woman and now by not making sure his sister was safe. Lea knew nothing she could say would keep him from holding himself responsible, so she did the only thing she could at that moment.

She put her left hand over his right one holding the gear shift. A physical yet silent reminder that she was there and wasn't going anywhere, that as long as they'd had each other they could be fine, they could be strong. Together. She knew he got the message as she felt him relax slightly, shoulders loosening a bit, hands unclenching he curled his fingers around hers. Squeezing them in a non-verbal thank you. Lea took another try at making him see that at the very least they'd need a plan before they'd charge head first into something they have no idea how dangerous it could be.

"Just so I know, what exactly are you planning on doing when we get back to Beacon Hills?", she said calmly, not a trace of judgement in her voice. Derek sighed, " I don't know I just-", he took a deep breath, "I need to do something."

"I know", his sister said, giving him a sad smile that wasn't reaching her eyes. "Me too." She took a moment to think. "Then how about this. When we get there, first thing we're gonna do is get a motel room, get something to eat, maybe shower and take a moment to assess the situation. We can't just go barging in, not knowing what to expect. We need to get some information first, snoop the place out, retrace Laura's steps before we do anything that could get us killed. That sound good?"

Derek thought about it for a moment. His sister's right, they couldn't just run in without a plan, they could get themselves into serious trouble if they did. That's one of the reason he admired her so much, her ability to stay so clear headed even in the most desperate of times. Having anger management issues himself, it's a trait he'd always looked up at her for despite her being younger than him. Fighting his urge to find whoever did something to Laura as soon as possible and make them suffer for taking away one of the only things he had left, Derek, with a bit of a strain, smiled tiredly at his sister and nodded. "Sounds good." Lea smiled back and looked back out of the window, feeling a little less helpless. They could do this, she thought, they could manage as long as they had each other.


	2. Chapter 2

The sun was just setting when they finally reached the reached their destination, a cheery sign welcoming to Beacon Hills, California. For Derek it was both too soon and not soon enough. For the past six hours they've been driving all they way up from LA and the whole time he couldn't stop thinking, couldn't stop worrying. Worrying about what they'd find when they get there. He didn't want to believe that something could have happened to Laura, he refused to, but at the same time he couldn't help but expect the worst.

"There should be a motel just down this street," Lea said, squinting at her phone before looking up and pointing at a telltale neon sign indicating vacancy, "Yeah over there, the Rodeway Inn. According to google this is the only motel in Beacon County. This must be the one Laura said she is staying at."

Wordlessly, Derek made a right turn off the street and parked the car in the motel's parking lot. It was getting dark, he noticed as he unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of the driver seat, the sun just barely still visible above the tree line in the distance. As the siblings were making their way to the reception, he couldn't help but be mad about the fact that they spent the whole day just getting here essentially wasting time.

Sensing his anger, Lea took his hand and gave it an affectionate, reaffirming squeeze before opening the door, a bell signalling their entrance. At the counter sat a woman, probably in her mid-forties, smoking a cigarette and looking like the epitome of boredom and disinterest while playing a game on her phone. "What do you want?", she asked in a raspy voice, not once looking away from the screen.

Ignoring the rude greeting, or rather lack thereof, Derek said, "We want a room." The woman, Berta, Derek realised as he read the name tag pinned to her vest, glanced up and looked at the two of them, raising an eyebrow. "For the two of you?"

"Yes."Derek said, glaring at them woman. Putting her cigarette in the ashtray on the counter, Berta slid of the stool she had been sitting on to stand in front of the computer. "I have a double room, $45 a night." She said typing something on her computer before looking back up at Derek. "ID?"

Derek reached into his back pocket, pulling out his wallet and handed over his ID. Berta looked at it and typed in Derek's name on the computer before giving the card back. "Hale? Like that girl that checked in last week?"

A sliver of hope flared up inside of Derek's chest, but before he could answer, Lea chimed in. "Yeah our sister, Laura. Have you seen her?"

"Not since she got here. She payed for two weeks in advance. Said she didn't want to have to worry about making daily payments.", Berta answered, "Why, you lookin' for her?"  
Derek ground his teeth, of course she hadn't. It would have been to easy if, after days of no contact with her, this motel clerk would be the solution to finding Laura.

"Yeah, we haven't heard from her in a couple of days so we came to check if she's okay." Lea said, the sourness of worry tainted her scent. "You're really sure you haven't seen her since then?"

"Positive," answered Berta, turning around to take two keys off of the wall behind her. "This is your key and this is the spare key to her room. Do whatcha gotta do.", she said, putting both keys on the counter.

With a confused expression on her face, Lea asked "Wait, your giving us the key to her room? Just like that?"

"As long as cops don't come swarming this place because of a missing person, I don't care what you do."

Getting impatient, Derek said "You heard the woman, let's go." He grabbed both keys from the counter and slapped a $50 dollar bill in their place. "Keep the change" he grumbled before turning around and walking back out the door without waiting for Lea to react. Behind him, he heard Lea mutter out a rushed 'thanks', the bell ringing once more as she too stepped outside.

"Well," she said glancing through the window back at Berta who had already resumed whatever she was playing on her phone, "That was weird, but i'm not complaining it. Which room is Laura's?"

Derek turned over the key in his hand, revealing the room number on a cheap keychain, "Room 34".

\-------------------

The two siblings made their way to their sister's motel room. Once there, Derek unlocked the door, his heard pounding in his chest. He had no clue what he'd find behind that door, his cynical mind only coming up with worst case scenarios. As he pushed open the door, he could hear and feel Lea not faring any better.

The room was dark, if it weren't for his supernatural senses, Derek wouldn't be able to see anything. He turned on the light. Laura, in her typical fashion, had spread out her stuff around the room. There were clothes strewn on the floor, a notebook and loose papers covered the bed and various empty coffee cups decorated the nightstand. 

"Woah, she really went all out." Lea said, walking into the room before taking a deep breath through her nose, scenting. "It seems like she really hasn't been here in a while, couple days at least." 

Five days, Derek thought, five days since they'd last heard from her, five days since Laura's probably last been in this room. Any sliver of hope he thought he had, was quickly fading out of existence, instead being replaced by the ever growing fear of his sister really being dead. Derek watched as Lea picked up the notebook from the bed. 

"She wrote down everything she found out," Lea said, leafing through the pages, " _August 23rd, Walked around town, trying to find any leads. Found the newspaper that published the article. Talked to the journalist who wrote it, he told me who found the deer. Looking for her now._

 

_August 24th, Went to the vet who examined the deer, he said wounds were not afflicted with a knife, they're too ragged. Could be claws? Visited Peter afterwards._  

 

_August 25th, Finally tracked down the jogger, said she found the deer a little ways off the trail in the eastern part of the preserve, couldn't say more. Heading there now."_  

Flipping through the rest of the notebook, showing nothing but blank pages, Lea said, _"_ That was the last thing she wrote." With a worried expression, she let the book fall back on the bed.

Derek stepped closer to her, putting her hand on her shoulder."If she went to the preserve, then we have to go look for her, what if she's trapped, what if-" 

"Derek-", she interrupted him. 

He continued, "What if it's hunters? If she's still out there we have to g-" 

Turning around to face her brother, Lea put both her hands on his shoulders, firmly holding him in place. "Derek. Stop.", he looked at her with such hurt in his eyes, such desperation, it felt like a punch to the gut. She shared the sentiments, but she couldn't bear seeing her big brother loosing his composure like that. "You have to calm down. This won't help us. We'll go to the preserve, we'll look for her, but Der," she took a deep breath, feeling tear swell up in her eyes. "We have to prepare ourselves for the worst." 

Derek felt his heart crumbling. He's the older one, he's supposed to be the one looking after his younger sister, be the one to comfort her. Instead she's the one who was levelheaded, has always been the one to be under control in moments like these. Sometimes he wonders what he'd do without her. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close, nuzzling her hair. "I know." He said with a deep sigh, "I know."

He knew she was right, knew that the chances of Laura still being alive were practically non existent, and that knowledge was crushing not only him but Lea as well. Her frantic heartbeat giving away just how scared she is. 

They stayed like that, holding onto each other, taking comfort in the gesture, in the scent of pack, for a minute or two before Lea leaned back a little seemingly having regained her composure. Sniffling once she said, "Let's go find her." 

Derek, after looking her into the eyes for a moment, nodded sternly and together they walked back to the car making their way to the preserve.

\-------------------

It took them 5 minutes to make it from the motel to the other side of the town, the both of them growing more anxious the closer they got to their destination. Just as they rounded that last corner that would take them down the all so familiar dirt road, they saw the telltale red and blue flashers of a policer car. Multiple police cars, to be exact, all parked in front of the entrance of the preserve, about a dozen officers mingling around. 

"What the hell?", Derek muttered confused before bringing the car to a stop in front of the yellow police tape that was keeping them from going any further. He looked at his sister who wore just as a confused and worried expression as he did. 

They both got out of the car, trying to get to the entrance, but before they could as much as try to lift the tape they were stopped by a man dressed in uniform. 

"Woah there, kiddos, that tape is up for a reason, it means you're not allowed to be here." The deputy said standing in front of them. 

"This is our property.", Derek said gruffly, "What's going on?" 

The deputy huffed, "Look kid, I don't have time to discuss this right now, the both of you need to stay behind that tape, okay?"

"You don't understand," Derek said as he stepped closer to the man, Lea failing to hold him back, anger seeping into his voice. "My name is Derek Hale, this is my family's property and we-" 

The deputy interrupted him "I don't care if your name is Derek Hale, you two need to leave before i have you arrested for interfering with a police investigation." 

"Hendricks!", another man shouted, walking up to the deputy, "What the hell is going on?", he asked. His name tag read Sheriff Stilinski.

Stilinski. Derek remembered that name. This was the man that had taken them to the Sheriff's department after the fire. The man that had tried his best to console the three children that lost everything, all at ones, the man that had held so much sympathy that he almost started crying himself. Derek had never thought about him again after they had left Beacon Hills, too occupied with grief and loss, but he remembered him now. 

"These kids won't leave, they're saying it's their property. He", the deputy, Hendricks, said pointing at Derek, "says his name is Derek Hale."

Surprised the Sheriff looked first at Derek, then at Lea. "Derek Hale? You're Talia's kids?" 

Stepping forward now as well, Lea said "Yes. We are, and we're looking for our sister. What is going here?"

A worried expression fell over the Sheriff's face, a frown making his eyebrows scrunch together. 

"What?", Derek asked, despite already knowing the answer, "What is it?" 

Lea gripped Derek's hand, tightly holding onto her brother as Sheriff Stilinski drew a deep breath before saying in a somber voice,

"We found a body."


End file.
